Muscat: Oman has warned that it will take serious legal action against anyone who is found disseminating video clips on social media platforms that incite sectarian and religious strife, said Hussain Al Hilali, public prosecutor, in a press statement.
Al Hilali said it is important to criminalise the menace as it destabilises the security of any country and shakes its pillars.
He said sectarian incitement is a criminal offence as per Oman Penal Law since 1974. Al Hilali issued a judicial circular recently to all heads of public prosecution departments in the country to take serious legal action in this regard.
Oman has a unique religious make-up where the dominant sect is the Ibadhi sect of Islam, with a sizeable population of Sunnis and a minority of Shiites, all of which live in relative harmony. It is not clear what triggered the statement from the public prosecutor.
Al Hilali cited Sultan Qaboos’ address on the country’s 24th national day in which he blasted extremism, fanaticism and partisanship as “poisonous plants which the country’s good soil rejects”.
The public prosecutor warned Omanis to stay away from such sectarian and religious strife, arguing that it violated the way of life in Oman, warning that the government shows zero tolerance against anyone involved in such matters.
In 2008, Oman introduced a law stipulating that anyone involved in crimes related to terrorism and sectarianism would be jailed for a minimum of 10 years.
It has signed the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. Oman also established the anti-money laundering Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) system in 2002, as per a royal decree.
In November, Oman scored zero in the global terrorism index, reflecting on its safety and security against terrorist threats, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2015 released recently by the Economics and Peace Institute.
